obituary

You may remember his impressive antics in the 2011 Best Picture-winning movie The Artist, but now he'll have to make those moves in doggie heaven.

Moviefone is reporting that the little Jack Russell Terrier named Uggie had to be put down Aug. 11 at the ripe old dog age of 13.

Uggie's owner/father, Omar Von Mueller, told TMZ it was a difficult decision to say goodbye to Uggie, but the tumor had left him suffering and the last few weeks were especially tough. Sarah Clifford trained Uggie and told TMZ he was "a perfect little terrier" with boundless energy. "I will forever hold him dearly in my heart and never forget his infinite love for chicken and hotdogs." Sniff.

Unbeknownst to Kirk Douglas, "People Magazine" killed him this weekend.
No, Douglas is not dead, but the magazine gave everyone a scare on Sunday by posting his death notice a little bit early.
The publication had his pre-written obituary ready, as most news sites do with celebrities, but the article (dated Sept. 29, 2014) was not supposed to be live on the site.
With the headline "DO NOT PUB Kirk Douglas Dies," the post (which has since been removed) read:

"Kirk Douglas, one of the few genuine box-office names to emerge just as TV was overtaking American culture in the years right after World War II, died TK TK TK," the post reads, with his death date unknown.

Douglas will turn 98 this December, as long as we can keep him away from "People" in the meantime.

Oscar Niemeyer, the prolific Brazilian architect who changed the landscape of metropolises with his unique vision of international and modernist styles, passed away last night at the age of 104, according to local news reports. Throughout his career spanning over nearly eight decades, Niemeyer established himself as one of the most renowned visionaries in the field, particularly for his role as the mastermind of the architectural landscape during the construction of Brasilia in the early 1960s.

Besse Cooper, the world's oldest living person on record, passed away last night at the age of 116. Born August 26, 1896, Mrs. Cooper grew up in Tennessee, graduated from East Tennessee State Normal School and worked as a certified school teacher in Tennessee and Georgia until 1929. At the time of her death, she had 12 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Farewell of the Day is a feature series that serves as the sad news bearer of notable departures, disappearances and deaths.

Williams said he never tired of singing "Moon River," whose melody he considered "beautiful" and whose lyrics he called "timeless."

"You wouldn't believe how 'Moon River' became a hit," he said in a 1989 interview with the Chicago Tribune. "I was having dinner with [songwriters] Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, who had just finished recording the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's, with Audrey Hepburn singing 'Moon River' out on the balcony with a guitar.

"So Mancini and Mercer played this song for me, which I thought was great. But my record company was really into singles then, and they said: 'I don't think phrases like 'my Huckleberry friend' will make it with the kids — they won't know what it means.'"

But about four weeks before the 1962 Academy Awards program, he recalled, "I was invited to sing 'Moon River' on the Oscars show, and Columbia Records decided we ought to rush a 'Moon River' album into the stores, because that tune looked like a shoo-in for the 'best song' Oscar.

"So they quickly put out an album, had it in the stores on the day of the Oscars, and the next morning it sold 500,000 copies."